I hurried away from the window and over to counter to grab a drink. Someone had brought our yearbook and Kyle and Alex were looking over it, making fun of each others pictures.<br> “Kyle Valenti – super stud,” Alex said with a snicker.<br> “Alex Whitman – super nerd,” Kyle shot back.<br> “Yeah and at least I got a woman that loves me for my mind…what you got Kyle?” Alex chided.<br> “Hey Pam is a nice girl,”<br> “Pam Troy…gawd Kyle, didn’t you meet <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> anyone</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> in college?” Maria chimed in, poking Kyle in the ribs.<br> “What is this pick on Valenti night?” he said with mock hurt in his voice.<br>The three of them laughed and continued to go through the yearbook. Shakira’s Whenever, Wherever began and Maria wiggled her way back to the deemed dance floor area. She began singing and beckoned Michael over, who shook his head no. She ended pulling him to the floor with her and danced around him as she continued to sing. Michael had grown red. I watched them and began laughing as Maria tried to get Michael to move in time to the beat. Soon Isabel was out there with Alex and for a moment I was able to forget the danger. <br>No sooner had I forgot than Tess walked in with Max. She was clinging to him and he looked uncomfortable. Tess immediately looked around for me and catching me staring was all she needed. She leaned even closer to him and purred. I couldn’t help it and before I knew it I was reading her thoughts. <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> Eat your heart out Parker.</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> I rolled my eyes, she was so lame.<br>Max brought her to the counter and Kyle smiled.<br>“Hey Tess, how have you been?” he said wrangling her into a bear hug.<br>She looked mortified as she struggled to release his grip.<br>“I’m great Kyle, how are you?”<br>“Just great, have my own business, built me a house…you know the things that make a man Grade A choice,”<br>“Give it up Valenti,” Alex hollered to Kyle.<br>And then I remembered Kyle didn’t know about Tess and the rest of the aliens. I had to make sure I kept an eye on him…otherwise she might try and get her clutches on him. And Kyle, who was eager to please all of his friends, would not know what hit him. I put a Cherry Coke in front if Tess, smiling,<br> “Cherry Coke was always your favorite, right?” I said.<br> “Yeah, thanks,”<br> “So Max says you have a mystery date…you should have brought him,” <br> “Oh…well I figured this would be just a high school friends thing,”<br> “We would have loved to meet someone from outside of Roswell…I assume he isn’t from Roswell…”<br> “N-no..he’s not from anywhere around here,”<br> “Oh, what does he do?” I kept prodding. <br> “He’s an entrepreneur,”<br> “From where?”<br>She gave me a look of disgust.<br> “You sure are asking quite a few questions,”<br> “Am I? I’m sorry, I didn’t think you’d care,”<br>Let Me blow Your Mind by Eve featuring Gwen Stefani came on and Isabel yanked Kyle to the floor. Kyle began grinding with Isabel much to my surprise. And he was good. I began egging them on and Tess just watched. I left the area behind the counter and came to stand beside Max.<br> “Hey…” he said.<br> “Hey,”<br>We watched the antics on the floor. Alex had jumped into the mix and Maria was singing into a rolled up napkin. I glanced at Tess and she looked bored.<br> “All I can think about it how she isn’t even who she says she is,” Max said following my glance.<br> “She is still that heartbroken queen on Antar,” I said quietly, looking away as she turned to stare at me.<br> “Don’t tell me you feel sorry for her?” Max asked incredulously.<br> “No…she hurt someone that wasn’t even part of this battle and who knows what she and Khivar plan to do,” <br> There was more music and more laughing and it was fun. Maria sang to every song she could, dragging poor Michael to the floor at every chance. Tess finally was able to get Max to dance with her during one of the slower songs from our senior year, Fallin by Alicia Keys, which I found ironic. I was sitting at the counter with Kyle and we both spun our stools to watch the couples on the floor. Kyle was asking me something and I just nodded…watching Max and Tess I was taken back to Antar and their wedding day….<br> <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> There was a band playing somewhere on a platform in the great hall and there in the middle of it all was King Zan and his bride, Ava . Max was in a formal Army uniform and Ava in a flowing white gown. They were dancing and she seemed to cling to him, trying to get Zan to just look at her. Instead his eyes kept creeping to a corner of the hall where Zephania was standing with his daughter Elise and Queen Arian. Zan could not help but watch Elise. Elise with dark flowing hair, bewitching chocolate eyes and the softest tan skin he could ever imagine. Elise whom he had promised his love to and now watched him dance with another. But she said she understood, said that it hurt her to see him with another, but it was for the good of the planet. He finally looked down at his bride, Ava. She was batting her lashes and trying to smile seductively. He sighed and smiled. Ava was beautiful, but she was not Elise. Ava did not care about the world around her or the people in it…she only cared for herself, her wants, her needs.<br> “What is it that has my King in other place?” she asked quietly, studying the expression on Zan’s face.<br> “Nothing my bride, nothing,” and with that he swing her around the floor until she was flush.</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--><br><br> “Liz, you aren’t even listening to me,” Kyle said giving me a punch to the arm.<br> <br>“Of course I am Kyle,”<br> <br>“You think they’ll get back together?” he said referring to the twosome on the floor.<br>I stared at him. He had to be told the truth.<br> <br>“Tess and Max? Not in a million years,”<br> <br>“So she’s free to date…maybe I ought-“<br> <br>“Kyle, get the idea out of your head, Tess is damaged goods,” I said matter-of factly.<br> <br>“I don’t care about that, Liz. I’m 28, been there done that,”<br> <br>“Well you don’t want to go <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><b> there</b><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> with <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><b> that</b><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->, trust me,”<br><br>I hopped off the stool and went to the booth Michael and Maria had picked to rest their aching feet. They too were watching the Tess and Max dancing.<br><br>“Enough to make you sick isn’t it,” Maria said.<br><br>“I saw their wedding day,”<br>Michael looked at me and leaned in close.<br> <br>“What do you mean you <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> saw</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> there wedding day?”<br> <br>“As they started dancing I got this flash and the next thing I knew I was watching them on their wedding day,”<br> <br>“Well did they look happy?” Maria asked,<br><br>I shook my head no as the song finally ended and Tess pulled Max over to our table. Kyle pulled up a chair as I slid over to accommodate everyone. Max quickly slid in beside me, Tess following suit. Alex dragged another chair over as Isabel sat beside Maria. Here we were just one big happy family. Or from the outside it would appear so. But appearances could be misleading as was evident from the curly haired blonde sitting amongst us.<br> <br>“So Isabel, Maria, tell us what surprises are in store for us Saturday?” Max asked.<br><br>“If we told you they’d no longer be surprise Max,” Isabel responded with a shake of her long tresses.<br><br>“Come on Iz…you know <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><b> I</b><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> can’t stand surprises,” Michael said. “And Maria has not been forthcoming, no matter what I promise her,”<br><br>“Things never change…the girls always seem to have one up on us,” Alex said with a laugh.<br><br>“Well, we are the stronger sex,” I said.<br><br>“You believe that crap? What have they been feeding you up at Harvard?” Kyle said with a grin.<br><br>“Shall we have a little wager on who the stronger sex is?” Isabel chimed in.<br><br>“Yes, that sounds like a good idea,” Tess added.<br><br>“A wager? What kind of wager?” Michael asked.<br><br>“Shall we throw money in a pot?”<br><br>“How about 20 bucks each?” I said.<br><br>“And what will gage the stronger sex on? Something physical or mental?” Kyle questioned.<br><br>“Oh, both of course,”<br>The guys all began laughing. I put my eyebrow up.<br> <br>“Why are you gentleman laughing?” Tess asked.<br> <br>“Yes, what with the guffaws?” Maria added<br> <br>“You really think that Maria here is stronger than me?” Michael said “She runs screaming from cockroaches,” he managed while wiping away tears that had formed in his eyes.<br> <br>“Ok ,funny man, you watch your ass get beat by a girl,” <br> <br>“This is so on,” Isabel said sliding out of the booth.<br>Tess followed and soon I was able to go into the backroom and get several easel boards my parents used for meeting and markers.<br> <br>“Alright so what’s going to be the brawn part of the test?” Alex asked flexing his arms.<br>Isabel managed to punch him once and us girls snickered. <br> <br>“Why don’t you all pick,”<br> <br>“That confident are you?” Max said shaking his head.<br> <br>“We are,” Maria managed gathering us into a small huddle.<br> <br>“Ok, so we can win whatever they come up with right?” Tess asked looking from face to face.<br> “Of course, poor Michael has no clue that I’ve been working with a personal trainer for the last 6 months,” Maria said with a snort.<br> <br>“They are in for a whipping,” Isabel said with a huge grin<br>I stuck my head up and looked over at the guys. They too had huddled.<br> <br> “What do you think they will make us do?” Tess said looking at me.<br><br> “Who knows…”<br><br> “Ladies ready?” Michael hollered over to us.<br><br> “Oh yeah,” we all said slapping hands.<br><br> “What you got for us? Maria said hand on hips.<br><br> “Pushups in 60 seconds,” Alex said.<br> <br> “You guys are on,” Isabel said, removing her sandals and stretching.<br><br>And so we started, each of us going against one of the guys for a full minute. The poor guys didn’t know what hit them. Maria pushed 7 past Michael, Isabel a full 10 pass Alex, Tess who we paired with Kyle beat him by 5 and I beat Max by 8. They couldn’t believe it.<br><br> “This reminds me of gym class all over again,” Isabel said flexing her arms.<br>Alex rolled his eyes.<br> <br> “So Alex, how does it feel to be beat by a pregnant woman?” I chided.<br> <br>“Shut up,” he said in disgust while we all laughed.<br><br>“What do you ladies have for us?” Max asked.<br>I looked at the girls and they all nodded.<br><br> “All fifty states and capitals in 2 minutes,” I said.<br> <br> “Oh come on, the last time we needed to know that was for 4th grade,” Michael immediately piped in.<br> <br>“So since none of us has been in 4th grade for quite a few years, it’s fair,” Tess said.<br><br>“Can we confer?” Alex asked.<br><br>“Yeah, you’ll need it,” Isabel said with a smirk.<br><br>“Ok men, can we do this?” Alex asked.<br><br>“I think maybe we should just forfeit...there is no way I’ getting more than like 10 states,” Michael said.<br><br>“Damn Michael, if we let them win this, we will <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><b> never</b><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> live it down,” Kyle said.<br><br>“I’m sorry guys, I’ll give it a try, but I can’t promise anything,”<br><br>“I think they have us beat,” Alex said.<br>Alex looked over at us and I smiled innocently and waved. He shook his head and went <br>back to the huddle.<br><br> “They definitely have us beat,” he said with a shake of his head. “Your call Max,”<br><br> “Michael…you don’t think you can get at least half?”<br><br> “I’m a photographer,”<br><br> “Alright, alright…we’ll forfeit,” Max conceded breaking the huddle. <br><br> “About time,” Tess said pretending to pick at her freshly manicured nails.<br><br> “Yeah, well we decided to go easy on you girls,”<br><br> “Give me a break, let’s just do this already,” I said.<br><br> “We forfeit,” Kyle said quietly.<br><br>Isabel began laughing hysterically and soon all four of us couldn’t contain ourselves. The four men folded their arms against their chest and watched in horror as we laughed at their expense. <br> <br> “We are the champions,” we began to chant above the music.<br>The guys began to get their wallets out.<br><br> “We’ll get you next time,” Kyle said handing Tess a twenty.<br><br> “Promises, promises,” she sneered.<br><br>The night drew on and we all relived high school memories. And for a moment the 3 aliens excepted the fourth. All was forgotten as we remembered that before we were enemies we had been friends. <br> <br> <br> <p><center>*************<center><font color="DC143C">Roswell on Sci-Fi in 2003.</FONT><center><FONT COLOR="8B0000">Got it?</FONT><CENTER><FONT COLOR="00BFFF">Get it?</FONT><CENTER><FONT COLOR="DAA520">Good!</FONT><center><center><font color="DC143C">I think my muse is broke.</FONT><center><a href="
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